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The moment has arrived: Cruise is no more — at least as a player in the robotaxi sector. General Motors has finalized its acquisition of GM Cruise Holdings LLC, making Cruise a completely owned subsidiary of GM.
As a result, the company is slashing its workforce by 50%, equating to around 1,000 jobs. The next phase involves merging the remaining employees into GM’s structure, where they’ll focus on enhancing the automaker’s advanced driver-assistance system.
A major point of interest is whether GM will successfully keep the remaining talent, primarily composed of engineers, and if this expertise will lead to improvements in their advanced driver-assistance system known as Super Cruise, and eventually personal autonomous vehicles.
I’m skeptical that integrating talent who were dedicated to Cruise’s late co-founder and CEO, Kyle Vogt, will yield a good fit. But who knows? I’ve been mistaken in the past.
Over time, I’ve had numerous conversations with Cruise engineers, and I often left thinking, “These folks genuinely believe in the mission.” While I haven’t interacted with all employees, those I’ve encountered showed a strong commitment to the autonomous vehicle vision and appeared eager to work long hours to bring it to life.
To any current or former members of Cruise, don’t hesitate to reach out. I’d love to discuss your experiences from the early days. You can email me at kirsten.korosec@techcrunch.com.
A little bird
Recently, some additional insights surfaced from Cruise. Much of the discussion revolved around the upcoming layoffs, as previously mentioned, but one interesting tidbit hinted at the possibility of Cruise reactivating its robotaxi services at some point.
One sign of this potential revival was a report that Cruise was gearing up to deploy a retrofitted sensor system, internally labeled as Project Rhino, which aimed to enhance vehicle visibility and awareness beneath the car. This comes in the wake of the October 2 incident in 2023, where a pedestrian, initially struck by a human-operated car, ended up pinned under and subsequently dragged by one of Cruise’s autonomous vehicles.
If you have tips for us, reach out to Kirsten Korosec at kirsten.korosec@techcrunch.com, Sean O’Kane at sean.okane@techcrunch.com, or Rebecca Bellan at rebecca.bellan@techcrunch.com. You can also view our instructions for contacting us via encrypted messaging platforms or SecureDrop.
Deals!
A host of new deals have emerged this week!
Applied Intuition has acquired EpiSys Science Inc., a firm specializing in autonomy software for national security-related operations, including uncrewed aerial systems, surface warfare, maritime tracking, and battle management command and control. The terms of this deal haven’t been disclosed. Applied Intuition is well-known as a provider of autonomous vehicle software but is now expanding its focus into the defense sector.
GenLogs, a startup focused on freight intelligence software, secured $14.6 million in a Series A funding round led by Venrock and HOF Capital, with participation from Steel Atlas, AutoTech Ventures, Venture 53, TitletownTech, Plug and Play Ventures, and Heartland Ventures.
Presto, a startup aiming to create the ‘Stripe of EV charging,’ raised $15 million in a seed round led by Union Square Ventures, which was shared exclusively with TechCrunch. The round also attracted investments from Congruent Ventures, Jetstream, and Powerhouse Ventures.
Notable reads and other tidbits
ADAS
In last week’s edition, we covered Tesla earnings, but I wanted to highlight this article by Sean O’Kane, which revisits the promises made by Elon Musk regarding his Full Self-Driving software and his recent acknowledgment that some vehicles will indeed require hardware upgrades.
Autonomous vehicles
The California Department of Motor Vehicles has released data indicating a 50% decline in autonomous vehicle testing mileage. While the demise of Cruise is part of the reason, other elements are influencing this trend. Here’s a closer look at the situation.
Waabi has entered into a collaboration with Volvo Autonomous Solutions to co-develop and deploy autonomous trucks. Notably, Volvo also has an existing partnership with Aurora.
Waymo is making its presence felt on the Uber app in Austin. Currently, this doesn’t mean Waymo is actively picking up passengers, but that will change shortly.
Electric vehicles, charging, & batteries
The Chicago Auto Show is currently taking place, showcasing a variety of vehicles. While many, such as the Subaru Forester Hybrid, fall under mild hybrids or traditional combustion engines, all-electric options were also presented. Stellantis unveiled the all-electric 2025 Jeep Wagoneer S Limited trim, starting at $66,995 and offering an estimated range of 294 miles.
Ford reported its earnings this week, revealing a $5 billion loss in its EV sector for 2024. Yet, what struck me more was CEO Jim Farley’s comments regarding tariffs.
Scout Motors, a Volkswagen offshoot intending to manufacture all-electric and range-extended electric trucks and SUVs, is facing a lawsuit from a collective of VW and Audi dealers in Florida over its strategy to sell directly to consumers.
Ride-hailing and gig economy
Lyft has formed a partnership with AI startup Anthropic to develop an AI-driven assistant capable of managing initial intake for customer service inquiries from both riders and drivers.
Space and future of flight
An intriguing profile emerged about a startup named Circularity Fuels, which aims to manufacture diamonds as a step toward developing e-fuels for jet aircraft.
This week’s wheels
This week, we’ll hear from TechCrunch reporter Rebecca Bellan about her experience driving a 2024 Kia Niro. (Note: The image above depicts a 2025 model.)
I rented a 2024 Kia Niro for a weekend trip a couple of hours north of New York City.
It’s a charming, agile SUV; however, I encountered challenges regarding two key areas for road trips: battery lifespan in winter conditions and the placement of the volume control.
It took about an hour and a half of driving, or around 70 miles, for the battery to drop from full charge to halfway depleted.
This raised my anxiety levels, as I worried about finding a charger in rural Connecticut. Fortunately, I discovered one, albeit a solitary EVgo charger situated in a Planet Fitness parking lot. “Marsha,” the charger, was advertised to operate at 50 kW, but it was only delivering a frustratingly slow charge of 17 kW. Let’s just say, I spent quite some time sitting there.
I also noticed the absence of a traditional volume button or knob. This has become my main frustration with software-driven vehicles: the preference for touch screens over tactile knobs that can be easily adjusted while driving, without taking your eyes off the road. Not only I, but none of my passengers could figure out how to change the volume without resorting to the wheel’s button.
Eventually, I resorted to searching “Kia Niro volume” on Google and found a helpful Reddit post that mirrored my own experiences. It turns out you need to tap the “button” above the orange fan icon to exit climate control mode, after which you can adjust the volume using the left temperature dial. Quite unbelievable!
What is “This week’s wheels”? It’s an opportunity to learn about the various transportation products we’re testing, which may include electric or hybrid vehicles, e-bikes, or even rides in autonomous automobiles.
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